Questions plant support

 Hey Howdy @davetg01, plant support can be fun, I like coming up with different way to support or train a plant. I look at the plant and figure out what it needs for support, sometimes they don't need any at all till the very end when they start falling over from so much bud weight. But they are great fun to play with and bend around, they're hard to hurt sometimes.lol

 But each plant is different as is each grow environment, so sometimes I'm spreading them apart in their veg stage and then trying to surround and contain them in their latter stage. So one size doesn't always fit all. Nets are nice but then your tied down and can't move but that's not unusual. I simply let the plant grow, top at the 3 node when it's 5-6 node tall, at the beginning of flower or before the plant will be in it's form and I will know more about which way the plant wants to grow. The plant will show you what needs to be done, some plants don't need anything at all so don't start making plans, just be ready. Have some things on hand like a net, or tomato cages, bamboo stakes, pie plate with a rock is one of my oldies but a simple pieces of shit that works well for gently smashing a plant, gardening wire or soft copper electrical wire, whatever you can make work, get high and try something!! 🤣 

 Call back and lettuce know what you came up with or ask more about details. hula-hoop? 🤣 

I’m fairly basic in my support scheme. I like to train my plants into a mainline or something similar and then use tomato cages in my pots to support the colas in a circle. As the cola grows it can be tied to the ring with any kind of twist tie. Cages can be cut shorter easily if needed. It allows me take the plants in and out anytime and is simple and cheap. 

Dave, the net that came with your tent is what is know as a SCROG, which stands for Screen of Green, which is a technique for getting more bud. It is not really a plant support. Instead, you use it to tuck the stems of plants down under the net as they grown upwards. This enables the plant stems to get equal amounts of light in that the canopy is the same distance from the light, and it exposes the nodes to more light to stimulate more flowers. This is not a problem when you grow outdoors, but indoors, the short distance to the light means higher stems get much more intense light.

To support a plant, people use many of the same things you’d use in a flower or vegetable garden such as bamboo stakes, or tying stems that are heavy with bud to a leg or beam in your tent. There are all kinds of gadgets available to hep with this, but you can use soft string, bread twist-ties (the paper coated ones) and pipe cleaners to tie plants to supports. And yes, once in a while you will see someone use a scrog net to support the heavy weight of colas. 

Hope that helps.

Check out @Woodi2 ‘s scrog photos on his July 1 diary entry:

(you might have to scroll to get to his July 1 post)
https://percysgrowroom.com/forum/completed-diaries/woodi2-dirty-bear-necessities/paged/4/#post-103481

@woodi2 be like

@monkey be like

🤣😂🤪

Hey Dave,

I’m late to the party, like im_sparky said that’s a scrog net. I am a scrog grower, I think all tent growers should be to maximise the effectiveness of their grow light. It also helps remove a dominant cola and creates an even canopy which will give uniformity to the flowers in the canopy. 

My Advice is do what feels right to you, but definitely use support where necessary. Bamboos work great just mind your eyes!

I didn’t start out as a scrog grower I grew into one. ☘️

Tomato Cages!! Oh sure take the easy way, LMAO 🤣 

If it's too much to get a tomato thing in there, you could support them from the top using yoyos. Like in this picture, if you look closely at the center, you can see the yellow hook around the stem. Then the faint wire (it's plastic) leads up to a retracting reel to put a little upward tug on the branch.

LOL,  you guys are nuts! 🥜  (in a good way).  

Gonna go with the simple cage first.  Dont wanna confuse myself with too much complexity.